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These initiatives were driven by Lord Whitty, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Lord Whitty has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Lord Whitty has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
Heat networks can use a variety of low-carbon heat sources, for example large heat pumps, industrial waste heat and geothermal. No one solution will be appropriate for every DHS - a mix of technologies will support heat decarbonisation.
Whilst the capital cost of many of these low-carbon sources is higher than gas combustion technologies there are a range of private financing options. The Government has itself invested £288m in the decarbonisation of heat networks through the Green Heat Network Fund.
Longer term the Government intends to introduce Heat Networks Zoning by 2025 to further grow the number of low-carbon heat networks across England and in ‘Powering Up Britain’ the Government committed to outlining a clear approach to price rebalancing by the end of 2024, to lower the running costs of these lower-carbon technologies.
A range of technologies will be required to decarbonise the way we heat our homes. The precise mix of technologies in 2035 is unclear, in part because strategic decisions on the role for hydrogen heating are still to be taken. Heat Pumps and Heat Networks will have an important role to play in all future scenarios with at least 7.1 million homes using heat pumps in 2035.
The Electricity Networks Strategic Framework sets out the Government’s approach to readying the network for the increase in peak electricity demand anticipated as we electrify transport and other sectors. We expect peak electricity demand to increase to approximately 80 GW in 2030 of which electric vehicle demand makes up approximately 10%, before any demand side response. Due to existing spare distribution network capacity, we do not expect this to lead to any significant rise in distribution network capital costs before 2030. We expect £30 billion of transmission network investment between 2023 and 2030.
It is an offence to use a carriage (which would include a bicycle or e-bicycle) on a footway under s.72 of the Highways Act 1835. “Carriage” may also include an e-scooter, but it is also an offence under s.34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle (which would include an e-scooter, though not an e-bicycle) on the footpath. Footway and footpath are defined differently, but generally refer to what is called the pavement.
In London, it is an offence to park a vehicle on a footpath under s.15 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974 unless authorised through an administrative resolution. For the purposes of this section “vehicle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle. Outside London, parking on pavements is permitted unless specifically prohibited by a local authority making a Traffic Regulation Order to that effect. The Department for Transport is currently considering consultation responses on proposals to tackle pavement parking outside London.
It is an offence under s.22 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to leave a vehicle (including bicycles, e-bicycles and e-scooters) on a road (including a pavement) in a position that carries a danger of injury to others and under s.137 of the Highways Act 1980 wilfully to obstruct passage.
Enforcement of these regulations is a matter for the police. All road users have a duty to behave in a safe, responsible manner and to follow the rules in The Highway Code.
When parliamentary time allows, the Department intends to create a new licensing framework for shared mobility operations, including bicycles, e-bicycles and e-scooters, giving local transport authorities the additional powers they need to shape and manage cycle, e-cycle and e-scooter rental schemes. This would include the ability to set rules about the management of rental cycles, e-cycles and e-scooters on the pavement.
The most recent figures available are for the financial year 2021-22. In that year, there were 210,070 new build homes completed. Of these, 56,674 were affordable housing, including 6,635 for social rent. This means that 27% of all new build homes was affordable housing. A further 2,682 new affordable homes, including 1,009 for social rent, were delivered through acquisitions of existing stock or had no information available as to whether they were acquisitions or new build.
These data are available in Live Tables 120 and 1000 via the links below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
The department has released experimental statistics which estimate a net measure of the supply of affordable housing for rent by summarising the in and outflows to this sector of the housing stock in England. These statistics are still in development and so have a wider degree of uncertainty than more established figures. For 2021-22, the figures show that local authority affordable housing stock for rent decreased by nearly 7,200 while the rental stock owned by private registered providers increased by just over 18,900, an estimated net increase of 11,700 affordable homes for rent for these providers combined. Not all providers of affordable housing are covered, as non-registered providers and units where the provider is unknown are not included. This was published alongside the “Social housing sales and demolitions 2021-22” statistical release. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-sales-and-demolitions-2021-22-england/social-housing-sales-and-demolitions-2021-22#net-supply-of-affordable-housing-for-rent
The currently available data do not allow for a breakdown by tenure, including for social rent. Work has been ongoing with local authorities and the Regulator of Social Housing (which collects data from private registered providers) to collect all data necessary to provide a more comprehensive estimate, including by tenure. We hope to present this in future statistical publications.